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<p>Sorry for butting in, the mentality that “every qualified student should have a copy of our application on their kitchen table”. They want everyone to apply, even if they aren’t qualified because it makes their admissions rate decrease which “makes them look better”.</p>
<p>In my day (Fall 2006), Yale had the lowest acceptance rate of any college up to that point. </p>
<p>Ivies are like fashion; one year you’re in and one year you’re out. Here’s the catch: Yale is really popular so kids don’t apply because they are trying to game the system and apply where they think that no one else is applying. IMHO, Columbia’s applicant surge is a direct result of the negative media attention it has received recently. Kids thought applications would drop as a result but everyone had the same idea. </p>
<p>My conclusion: The most popular/desirable Ivies this year are the ones that see/saw only a little or even no increase in applications. Yale is in. Brown is in. Princeton is in.</p>
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Or it could have been the combined effect of switching to the common app and moving up in the U.S. News rankings. ;)</p>
<p>@Lynxes: but you can only apply one year, unless you do transfer which is ridiculously hard every year. ;)</p>
<p>adchang - When I say “you” I’m referring to a particular Ivy (while at the same time conjuring Heidi).</p>
<p>hume15 - While I do believe that both factors you mentioned most certainly contributed to the increase in applications, it is difficult for me to attribute the fact that Columbia received around 10,000 more application than Princeton received solely because Columbia moved “up” and switched to the Common Application. How much more desirable is an education at Columbia than an education at Princeton?</p>
<p>Princeton and (what I assume) Yale, were perceived to be hot this year, but perhaps kids thought that Columbia was good enough and that Harvard’s supplement was so easy they might as well buy a $70 lottery ticket.</p>
<p>What interests me the most is Stanford’s increase in applications. They have a very comprehensive supplement yet it does not discourage kids from applying. I think the reason for this phenomenon can be attributed to the sense that kids have of the Ivies’ impenetrability and of Stanford’s distance (both geographically and ideologically) from them, not to mention (but I will) California’s budget cuts which are affecting its highly respectable yet economically fragile public university system. In fact, I think an increase in applications to all private institutions can, to some degree, be linked to California’s budget crisis. </p>
<p>But I don’t live in California and I try to avoid (thinking about, engaging in, jumping into) crises in general. : )</p>
<p>I highly agree with you, lynxes. I’m from California, and while the UC’s offer some great options… the budget for public education here isn’t very promising.</p>
<p>Another note: High school counselors in my county wrote an article in the local newspaper explaining that significantly more seniors from the area have applied to private and out-of-state colleges and universities than ever before. Coincedence? I think not.</p>
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<p>This is a good question. Really, what’s the number? Before theorizing on why they received fewer apps, because who knows if they did?</p>
<p>No one knows if they did or not. But all my remarks and assumptions are based on the belief that they did not receive as many applications as Columbia (which may or may not be the case). Though in the majority of cases I refer to Princeton, which saw a 3.3% increase in applications which seems small in comparison to the increase that Columbia, UPenn, and Harvard saw.</p>
<p>If you’re applying to Yale, a decrease in applications is GOOD NEWS. In terms of the application “game,” you won.</p>
<p>Columbia’s high increase is largely a function of its having recently adopted the Common App.</p>
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But we’re talking about an increase from a base number here. Now that Columbia is on the common app, the application numbers are more comparable between the two schools–who’s to say that Columbia is not a more popular school in the first place? It’s in NYC, attracts more people because it seems more penetrable than “HYP” (yet recently moved up in rank as the next best option to these schools), has a lot more range etc. When it comes down to it, I think that a lot more high schoolers want to apply to Columbia because they’d rather go to Columbia.</p>
<p>[Yale</a> sees 5 percent increase in applications for class of 2015 | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/jan/20/yale-sees-5-percent-increase-applications-class-20/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/jan/20/yale-sees-5-percent-increase-applications-class-20/)</p>
<p>Yale’s application count for the class of 2015 is 27,230 right now, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel said. This is an approximate 5 percent increase from last year, when 25,869 student applied.</p>
<p>Brenzel said he expects the admission rate will decline slightly, as the University received more applications but will be holding the number of students accepted constant at slightly over 2,000.</p>
<p>Yale joins other Ivy League schools in experiencing a rise in application numbers this year. Brown and Princeton saw approximately 3 percent increases, while Harvard’s, Dartmouth’s, and the University of Pennsylvania’s application count rose by around 15 percent. Columbia saw the most dramatic rise in applications, with a jump of 32 percent.</p>
<p>Cornell is the only Ivy League School that has not yet released its application count for the class of 2015.</p>
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<p>I think a lot of high school students want to apply to Columbia because they think they have a better shot at admission there. I don’t think many high school students would pass up Yale or Princeton for Columbia, even though it’s in NY, though I’m sure a small minority would. I think cross-admit statistics would support this point (but I could easily be mistaken). </p>
<p>I honestly believe Princeton received such a small increase in apps in comparison to Columbia and Harvard because of the tremendous increase in applications at Princeton last year, scaring students away. And I think both Yale and Princeton saw such a small increase in apps because students essentially view their chances of getting into both of these schools as the same as getting into Harvard, so they just applied to Harvard, explaining one of many reasons Harvard saw such a dramatic increase in its number of apps.</p>
<p>One must point out, however, that all the Ivies (don’t know about Cornell) saw an increase in applications. I believe this thread has already addressed some of the reasons for this occurrence.</p>
<p>For me, as an applicant, although I know that a lower number of applicants doesn’t mean that I’ll have a higher chance of acceptance (technically yes but I doubt I’ll have much chance either way), it’s certainly better than a huge increase…</p>
<p>Oh and btw Princeton apps increased a tiny tiny bit. 3.3% increase to 27,115 applicants…</p>
<p>it’s important to look at the type of application when judging the number of app’s. that’s most evident when you see that Columbia’s app’s skyrocketed now that they’re using the common app. the really impressive thing is seeing a school’s app’s go up even when it has difficult or school-specific questions. princeton and stanford’s app’s are kind of a pain, and yet enough people want to go there that their numbers still went up. yale and columbia also ask school-specific questions in their supplements. not harvard. </p>
<p>so – as to harvard’s big increase in app’s – note that harvard wins the award for easiest-to-submit application. you don’t have to know or say ANYTHING about harvard in order to submit an app to harvard – they don’t ask ANY Harvard-specific questions. you just submit the common app, and then – for the harvard supplement – cut and paste a 2nd essay on anything (which most people have from other app’s) and check a few boxes for your major, etc. then hit “submit.” </p>
<p>that HAS to help encourage people to submit. but it doesn’t increase the number of serious applicants. just the slackers and people whose parents want them to apply…</p>
<p>^And even that 2nd essay is optional!</p>
<p>I think lynxes hit the nail on the head:
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<p>I know a lot of people who applied to Harvard “because I might as well” or “because my grandma wants me to” or “because it’s HARVARD.” I think these people, cognizant that they don’t have a great shot, but not wishing to always wonder “what if?” in the future, often suck it up, pay the 70 bucks, and apply. But they’re not gonna waste all that effort and time applying to Princeton and Yale as well–Harvard is where they aim their shot in the dark.</p>
<p>As far as Princeton’s minimal increase goes–could it have anything to do with their grade-deflation policy?</p>
<p>I am proud to say I wrote original essays for all my schools. I wrote about how reading “Blood Meridian” and “East of Eden” affected me for Harvard, and the process of learning to write for Yale.</p>
<p>^ You must be the only person in the world that did that :)</p>